Well-Known Member

"CoCT has managed to avert loadshedding every day since last thursday"
Not for helderberg side they haven't.
It's ironic because Steenbraas is right here in helderberg and we pay the same 'premium' that chris is talking about above, so much for fairness.

"CoCT has managed to avert loadshedding every day since last thursday"
Not for helderberg side they haven't.
It's ironic because Steenbraas is right here in helderberg and we pay the same 'premium' that chris is talking about above, so much for fairness.

So what we have is some kind of 'have your cake and eat it too' scenario (for COCT) and worst of both worlds scenario (for the consumer) where COCT gets to charge us their huge marked up rates, but when it comes to delivery we get shunted with the other Eskom customers.

Well-Known Member

It's a pump hydro station, pumps water to an upper dam using electricity and then unleashes it through turbines to generate electricity - so its entire purpose is basically to store off peak power to be used during peak times (Like a giant mechanical battery), not something that can be used 24/7.

Well-Known Member

It's a pump hydro station, pumps water to an upper dam using electricity and then unleashes it through turbines to generate electricity - so its entire purpose is basically to store off peak power to be used during peak times (Like a giant mechanical battery), not something that can be used 24/7.

Quite right. They refill late at night/early hours during off peak. The Steenbras pumped storage scheme can generate around 180MW but it costs about 215MW to "charge" it. So it effectively wastes more electricity than it generates but it eases the burden during peak demand.

Honorary Master

It's a pump hydro station, pumps water to an upper dam using electricity and then unleashes it through turbines to generate electricity - so its entire purpose is basically to store off peak power to be used during peak times (Like a giant mechanical battery), not something that can be used 24/7.